1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to refuse containers commonly referred to as dumpsters, having access features which facilitate use by handicapped individuals and comply with federal laws and regulations.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
With the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) an increasing social awareness of the difficulties encountered by handicapped individuals has followed. Simple everyday objects, manipulation of which is taken for granted by individuals without disabilities, may cause great difficulty to an individual who is handicapped or somewhat disabled. One such object is the dumpster, which term is used herein to generally describe a usually commercially supplied, outdoor trash or garbage container, usually having a volume of several cubic yards, and usually supplied with front-end or rear-end loading sleeves or pins as appropriate for the collection of trash by an automated garbage truck.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,813 issued Apr. 7, 1970 to Weir describes one such commercial refuse container, showing features of the type typically used with a front-end loading garbage truck, and further showing a typical sliding door arrangement. Notably, the doors are placed too high on the bin to accommodate handicapped individuals in wheelchairs. Compliance guidelines as set by federal law and regulations have established maximum reach requirements suited for use by handicapped individuals. Ideally, the lower edge of such a sliding door should be set in the dumpster no higher than 34 inches from the support surface on which the handicapped individual and dumpster reside. This height would ideally accommodate wheel chair bound individuals and would accommodate smaller dumpsters of about 4 cubic yards in volume.
Standard trash bin sliding doors also fail to provide a door tracking mechanism which minimizes the effort needed to open the sliding door. In conventional dumpsters, trash and other particles cannot escape the door's track, thus lodging in the track and thereby sufficiently hampering smooth door movement to overcome the ability of a handicapped person with reduced manipulative abilities to open the door. Moreover, freezing weather conditions may cause the door and track to become iced, also causing disabling circumstances for weakened individuals.
Although U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,036 issued Apr. 30, 1991, to Souza et al. describes a foot operated, front-loading refuse bin which has disadvantages similar to the conventional dumpster, including inaccessible doors and a foot lever which may be impossible to operate by wheelchair-bound individuals, particularly paraplegics. U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,057 issued Sep. 28, 1993, to Taylor describes a double actuated trash bin lid operated by a handled lever disposed to the side of the trash bin. Again, the doors are inaccessible to wheelchair bound individuals; moreover, the lever requires a large amount of rotation to actuate the doors which may result in the handle being rotated beyond the reach height of the wheelchair bound individual.
Other variously configured trash bins are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,132 to Edelhoff, wherein a trash bin door is pivoted along a gentle arc, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,448 issued Jun. 13, 1995, to Pedigo, wherein a cylindrical dumpster is described. Neither show features suited for use by handicapped individuals.
None of the relevant art which is intended to facilitate use by a handicapped individual is directed towards a trash bin. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,221 issued May 24, 1994 to Hammer describes a ball and socket arrangement for aiding handicapped persons having limited reach or mobility to move unreachable objects. The structure is dissimilar to the present invention and is not adaptable to a trash bin.
Moreover, no doors show anti-jamming features directed at minimizing and preventing collection of falling debris or precipitation in the gliding mechanism of the door. U.S. Pat. No. 3,550,559 issued Dec. 29, 1970, to Long shows a dog kennel gate having a sliding construction suspended by roller elements from an inverted channel. A pintle and slot arrangement is provided at the bottom of the gate to prevent rocking. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,929,622 issued Mar. 22, 1960, to Thorson, a similar pintle and slot arrangement is shown, intended again solely to allow sliding movement of the door in only one plane. In both the '559 and '622 patents, the door when closed occludes the slot, and thus blocks passage of material through the slot; moreover, both patents fail to teach any use of a slot in a door assembly, particularly in combination with a dumpster, for the purpose of limiting jamming due to collecting debris. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,496 issued Dec. 4, 1978 to Rock et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,090,265 issued May 23, 1978 to Baus show overhead trackinq sliding door assemblies for furniture doors and wet chambers, respectively, each teaching away from allowing free passage of debris and matter through a passage in a lower track.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.